Music Album Review: 'The Indiana Jones Trilogy: New Recordings of the Classic Scores'

(C) 2008 Silva America/Silva Screen Records

On May 13, 2008, Silva America released The Indiana Jones Trilogy: New Recordings of the Classic Scores, a 16-track “sampler” of music composed by John Williams for the first three Indy movies – Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Dropped just five days before the Cannes premiere of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, this CD features the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus under the baton of conductor Nic Raine. 

The album – which was originally issued in 2002 with the same musical content but with different cover art – is divided into three Suites, one for each film in the original trilogy. These suites are:

Raiders of the Lost Ark Suite:

1.      The Raiders March

2.      The Map Room

3.      The Basket Game

4.      Marion’s Theme

5.      Airplane Fight

6.      The Ark Trek

7.      Raiders of the Lost Ark

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom Suite:

8. “Anything Goes” (Mandarin) by Cole Porter (Vocalist: Helen Hobson)

9.  Nocturnal Activities

10. The Mine Car Chase

11. Finale & End Credits

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade Suite:

12. Indy’s First Adventure

13. X Marks the Spot/Escape from Venice

14. No Ticket/Keeping Up with the Joneses

15. Finale & End Credits

Bonus Track: Anything Goes (English Version) by Cole Porter (Vocalist: Helen Hobson)

My Take

As a rule, I don’t go out of my way to purchase “cover” albums of an artist whose music I like, especially if I have recordings that feature the original singer/composer/orchestra or band. Sometimes such recordings are excellent, such as The Star Wars Trilogy album recorded by Varujan Kojian and the Utah Symphony in 1983 for Varese Sarabande Records. I also look for endorsements on the album liner notes/back cover blurbs, per The Empire Strikes Back: Symphonic Suite from the Original Motion Picture Score. I mean, if the original composer gives a cover album a nice recommendation, it must be worth it, right?

Sometimes, though, cover albums are pale shadows of the original works they are trying to honor with musical homages. And quite often, listeners will write scathing reviews in which they criticize everything, from the muffed trumpet solo here or the less-than-impressive sound of a "lesser" orchestra there. 

And because this is a recording that is not connected to a licensed label, The Indiana Jones Trilogy; New Recordings of the Classic Scores lacks the official John Williams Seal of Approval. Nevertheless, I purchased it out of curiosity for several reasons.

First, finding an affordable soundtrack anthology of John Williams’ original soundtracks – especially the expanded editions produced by Nick Redman, the mastermind behind the Special Edition re-releases of the Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi dropped by RCA Victor and Sony Classical between 1997 and 2016 – is incredibly difficult. The original Indy trilogy box set released by Concord Records is extremely rare and – at $199.00 – too expensive for the average consumer.

Second, Nic Raine, the classically-trained conductor in this recording, is a well-regarded orchestrator of film scores and other works in Great Britain. He has collaborated with many renowned composers/arrangers, including John Barry, Michael Kamen, Elmer Bernstein, and Carl Davis, so he knows the ins and outs of film scores. Raine has recorded over 30 albums for Britain’s Silva Screen label – parent company of Silva America, which dropped The Indiana Jones Trilogy; New Recordings of the Classic Scores – most of them with the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra.

Over the years, I’ve learned to not base my opinion of “John Williams cover albums” on the original motion picture soundtracks’ sounds or quality of performances, especially when the originals were recorded by world-famous ensembles such as the London Symphony Orchestra. It’s really an unfair comparison to make because the originals were written for a specific task, and the “covers” are concert hall arrangements intended for public performances.

In addition, the City of Prague Philharmonic is not the London Symphony Orchestra or even the Los Angeles-based studio ensemble that John Williams records the film scores with. In recent years the Czech orchestra has been featured in actual film and TV scores, most notably under the baton of Kevin Kiner for Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008-2014).

The Indiana Jones Trilogy; New Recordings of the Classic Scores is one of the albums that was made during the “ensemble is getting good” period; listeners can tell that the Czech orchestra players have gotten the hang of working with Raine and are at ease playing in a style that was once out of their comfort zone. (The orchestra, like many musical ensembles from former Communist countries in Europe, was used to playing compositions considered to be safe and “politically correct” in an authoritarian state.)

Taken on its own terms, The Indiana Jones Trilogy; New Recordings of the Classic Scores is not a bad record. Far from it, actually. The 16 selections – 14 orchestral cues by the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus, and two renditions of Cole Porter’s Anything Goes by Helen Hobson – are nicely rendered in this digitally-recorded album. Raine knows his stuff and, with the rapport he has established with the Czech musicians over the years – gives listeners a thrill-ride of an album.